Anime review: Suzuka

The anime adaptation of Suzuka covers only about one-third of the entire manga series. Whether this was done deliberately to avoid the more adult themes explored later in the manga or if there were plans to continue the anime that never fell through is unclear. However, this review is about the anime as a separate work from the manga, as personally disappointed as I am that the anime did not continue the story.

The series follows Yamato Akitsuki as he moves to Tokyo to attend high school. He lives in an apartment complex owned by his aunt and has his rent paid for in exchange for his janitorial services. One day Akitsuki notices a girl practicing the high jump after school and becomes intrigued with her. He discovers her name to be Asahina Suzuka and shortly thereafter realizes that she lives in the same apartment complex. Smitten with Suzuka, Akitsuki decides to join the track and field team. However, Honoka, a girl from Akitsuki’s past, has feelings towards him that she has been harboring ever since they were young. Determined to overcome her shyness, she joins the track team as well, acting as the team’s towel/water girl.


Early on, the series sets up this love triangle that causes much of the drama to unfold, allowing for the characters to develop along the way. All in all, this works fairly well, though there are times when the series has to back-track for a while to explain events, such as Honoka and Akitsuki’s first meeting and Suzuka’s middle school track career.

As Akitsuki becomes more and more interested in Suzuka he tries to work up the courage to ask her out, and Suzuka asks him to go to with her to an amusement park, more out of coincidence than anything else. At the end of the day Akitsuki asks Suzuka to become his girlfriend and is quickly rejected. What follows is Akitsuki’s attempts to get back on good terms with Suzuka but also his confusion between the two girls when Honoka expresses her feelings towards Akitsuki.

Surprisingly enough for a teen drama, the characters are quite well-rounded. Akitsuki is both determined to win Suzuka’s heart, but also stubborn and easily manipulated by his classmate and ‘friend’ Yashunobu. Yashunobu is the kind of character who comes across as a sleazy player, thinking of himself as a ladies’ man and constantly trying to impress his peers. He doesn’t always think things through before acting, though he tends to present himself as mature and collected in front of adults. Honoka is the shy nice girl who wants to be with Akitsuki in hopes of improving her self-esteem, and although things don’t always work out to her advantage she tries her hardest to look on the bright side of things and inevitably does find confidence in herself by the end of the series. Suzuka’s story is left shrouded in mystery until later in the series, though viewers can gather early on that she is a very determined individual and that she wants to avoid entering a relationship with Akitsuki. The reasoning behind this, however, isn’t explored for a while and becomes one of the more interesting and creative plot devices. Finally, Miki is one of Suzuka’s best friends and a sprinter on the track team. She is full of energy and sympathizes with both Suzuka and Akitsuki even when the two are thinking differently. Miki is constantly at odds with Yashunobu, calling immature time and time again for his various schemes to supposedly help Akitsuki in his romantic endeavors.


There are a notably small number of characters in the series to begin with, and aside from the main characters there are a handful of secondary characters, with everyone else left as rather undeveloped tertiary characters. Aunt Ayano and Akitsuki’s cousin Miho show up from time to time, more or less to show how Akitsuki and Suzuka’s relationship confuses other characters over the course of the series, and once to reprimand Akitsuki for an act he makes late in the series. Yukka is another girl living in the apartment complex, attending college and often seen drunk. She attempts to provide Akitsuki with advice but usually ends up leaving his apartment a mess. Viewers will likely find Yukka’s inclusion either a good source of comic relief or just plain annoying.

The soundtrack is quite impressive for a relatively low-key anime project. Many pieces put emphasis on piano and string parts to create a smoothly flowing and genuinely moving soundtrack. There are pieces that create a tense atmosphere, particularly during the track competitions, that change the mood up but fit in perfectly with the rest of the soundtrack. Many pieces are reprises of the series’ main theme, but still diverse and separate enough that they don’t become overly redundant. All in all the soundtrack isn’t particularly complex but it is very fitting to the series’ events. The art style uses the current standard digital coloring techniques and overall looks quite good – that’s not to say that the series is going to win any awards in the animation department, but everything is very clean looking and consistent. The English voice actors portray their characters with overall solid performances. There are a few voice actors who sound out of place from time to time, but none of this jolts the story off focus at all.

The story is neither overly complex nor strikingly original. There are some interesting techniques used to keep the plot entertaining and the characters are very well developed. Whether viewers are familiar with the manga or not, the ending comes across as incredibly sudden and is one of the show’s prominent weak points. Overall, however, the story is solid and gives some different twists on an age-old formula.

My rating: 7.75 (out of 10)

Anime review: Sgt. Frog (season one)

From the same creative team behind the original Mobile Suit Gundam, Sgt. Frog is a much less serious sci-fi series centering around the alien amphibian known as Keroro and his A.R.M.P.I.T. platoon. Keroro was originally sent to Earth to conquer the Pekoponians (his term used to refer to humans) in order to further his race’s galactic conquest. Fortunately for all of mankind, Keroro’s plans are foiled after his technology malfunctions, telling the fleet orbiting Earth to retreat and leaving Keroro and his comrades stranded.

The series sells itself as something of a kid’s series, sporting colorful, innocent-looking characters in humorous situations. To an extent this is true, as much (though not all) of the material in Sgt. Frog is relatively family-friendly. But it is because of the witty one-liners, situational ironies, and pop-culture references that this series will hit closer to home with viewers in the teenage group on up. The writers spend plenty of time early on poking fun at their brethren series of Mobile Suit Gundam, but also take time to parody other well-known anime such as Evangelion, Macross, and Dragonball Z. Even non-anime shows such as Kamen Rider get nods here and there.


Depending on which version viewers watch, the humor within will change slightly. The Japanese version tries to provide vague references at times to make the jokes more universal, but ultimately the funniest jokes in the original Japanese version of the show are aimed at Japanese viewers, as they can easily relate to the shows, films, books, etc. that are the focus of the jokes. The English dub takes a fair amount of creative liberties into account, but it pays off it an incredibly positive way. It may seem odd for an anime to be referencing and subsequently making fun of Indiana Jones and Britney Spears, but the localization works wonders for the fluidity of the show, making it ‘click’ better with North American viewers.

The characters are stereotypical enough that viewers can keep in mind that the series is a comedy, but not so flat and underdeveloped that they become boring or too predictable. Keroro is the star of the show and is such a likeable failure of a sergeant, while Giroro is the tough-as-nails soldier who inevitably falls secretly in love with Natsumi Hinata. Tamama is the platoon’s grunt yes-man, always agreeing with Keroro in competition for attention over Keroro’s friend/pupil Angol Mois. Dororo is a strong and stealthy ninja, though he argues for pacifism following the arrival of the platoon to Earth. In stark contrast to Dororo, Kululu finds pleasure in torturing others with his various inventions and experiments, most notably Keroro.

Keroro’s adoptive family, the Hinatas, keep him in the house for the safety of the others outside and have him complete chores while they are at school/work. Natsumi finds Keroro particularly repulsive at first, and this changes only so much later in the series. Natsumi’s brother Fuyuki, on the other hand, is an oddball sci-fi geek who is socially awkward and relies on Keroro as his closest friend, which Keroro uses to his own advantage on a few occasions. Fuyuki and Natsumi’s mother Aki works at a comic book company and sees Keroro and his comrades as a golden source of inspiration. She also pays Keroro an allowance for his chores, much to the surprise of her children, which Keroro spends exclusively on Gundam model kits.


The main characters are overall very likeable, though Kululu can become a bit repetitive and is easily the weakest development-wise of the platoon members. Still, Kululu does see some improvement in the second half of season one and becomes much more interesting because of this.

While the series does employ some running gags in its ongoing humor, these aren’t brought up in every episode and refrain from becoming repetitive to the point of being nauseating. The narrator delivers a fair share of humor to the show, becoming his own distinctly separate character over the course of the season. Each episode delivers a strong narrative, which is very much welcomed in a comedy-centric series - that is, save for episode twenty-three, in which Keroro clones himself and his very existence is threatened after too many clones become present. Based on the plot, one would presume this to be a hilarious episode, as one Keroro causes enough trouble by himself. But the episode portrays Keroro with a sudden lust for power and a notably minimal amount of humor is delivered throughout the entire episode. This, coupled with a weak and sudden resolution may lead some viewers to skip the episode entirely, as the narrator and characters spend a good three-quarters of the episode repeatedly telling the viewers what it is they are trying to get across.


The art style of Sgt. Frog is a bit more ‘cartoony’ than some more recent anime, but its bright colors really aid the ridiculousness of the inner-weaving stories. The soundtrack isn’t spectacular or overly-complex, but it is very fitting to such a comedic series. The voice actors give it their all in the English dub and work incredibly well with one another. Arguably, they’re better than the original Japanese voice actors, who do an impressive job all their own. Some of the choices seem a bit typecast, such as Chris Sabat (Piccolo in Dragonball Z) as gung-ho Corporal Giroro, but in the end the show is much stronger because of this.

Sgt. Frog is a hilarious romp through countless television, movie, book, and video game parodies. The characters poke fun at anything and everything possible, so long as the joke will evoke genuine laughter from viewers. The situational humor and wit therein fuels all of this further, and the series does an excellent job in defining itself as something so much more entertaining and complex than many more crude comedy anime series. Even if viewers don’t catch all of the jokes that Sgt. Frog dishes out, they're certain to find a plethora of laughs from the parts they do catch on to and the cast of characters are difficult not to find enjoyable.

My rating: 9.5 (out of 10)

Jafax 15 - Day two

The second day of Jafax was much heavier on panels than day one, but there were still plenty of anime showings, games/competitions, and ongoing events over the course of the day to cater to all sorts of different tastes. The costume contest at the end of the day showcased some of the most creative and highly-detailed costumes at the event, but I was thoroughly impressed with basically every costumed attendee I encountered this weekend.

I picked up a copy of the Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles dvd as well as FLCL poster from two of the vendors at Jafax 15. This was a great experience and I am pumped to go back next year (though I do plan on putting my costume together a bit sooner than the day before the convention).

(Below are some pictures taken over the course of the day on Sunday - click to make the images bigger.)




Smash Bros. lineup (from left to right: Ike, Link, Roy, Marth, and Pit)


Scar and Ed (Full Metal Alchemist)


Blastoise (Pokemon)


Lugia and Umbreon (Pokemon)


Lucky Star cheerleaders


Sean with Chiyo-chan's dad.


Myself as Lt. Quattro (Zeta Gundam)

Jafax 15 - Day one (in brief)

Today was the first day of Jafax 15, an anime/comic/video game convention hosted at Grand Valley State University. I went dressed as Lt. Quattro of Zeta Gundam, while my brother went as Edward Elric. There were some crazy and most excellent costumes on display over the course of the day, and it was impressive to see what people could whip up out of homemade materials. Admist the scheduled events, I talked briefly with Tiffany Grant (the voice of Asuka in the English dub of Neon Genesis Evangelion, as well as many other roles in various anime) and she signed my copy of disc 3 from the NGE Platinum Perfect Collection. I am planning on going back tomorrow for more Japanese subculture fun and I might post some more entries/photos from the event here.


Click to make image bigger - Quite a bargain, nicht?

Anime review: Blue Submarine No. 6

Blue Submarine No. 6 follows a similar formula to Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, mixing action and intense fight sequences with a specific subculture music and art style. In the case of Blue Submarine No. 6, the soundtrack happens to be rock-infused jazz. With a world that has already suffered so much destruction and humanity now on the brink of extinction, the story carries quite a serious tone and the art style looks grungy as half-submerged buildings are all that remain of the world’s major cities.

It is because of these two distinctly different styles of art and music that the show doesn’t seem to flow all that smoothly. While the crew of Blue Sub No. 6 are fighting for their lives and the future of humanity, the fact that torpedoes launching at giant mutant whales are accompanied upbeat and peppy numbers doesn’t fit all that well. The animation itself also hits more than a few bumps along the way. The creators wanted to combine hand-drawn and digitally-rendered elements into the series, but the age of the series really shows in the digital animation. Even for the time of the series’ release, it doesn’t seem that impressive and isn’t anywhere near as impressive as the hand-drawn characters and backgrounds. That said, the digital animation does receive a noticeable improvement with each episode, so by the finale of the series it doesn’t seem to drag the show down so much.


The characters are very limited due to the length of the OVA, and viewers are either going to love them or hate them, as only one really changes at all over the course of the series. Most of the crew members of Blue Sub No. 6 are put on the back burner and only make brief appearances, though their conversations with one another add another level of engagement to the series and they come across as more believable because of this. The only three secondary characters to really speak of are Verg, the ruthless yet childish leader of the Phantom Ship and one of Zorndyke’s creations, Mutio, another one of Zorndyke’s creations that is initially hostile out of fear but later comes to the aid of Hayami in return for the aid he provided her, and finally, the captain of Blue Sub No. 6 and longtime friend of Hayami.

Two of the main characters of the series are aligned with the crew of Blue Sub No. 6 – Mayumi Kino, a young soldier aboard the sub and Tetsu Hayami, a former soldier who has spent the past few years doing odd jobs and until he is asked to return to the fight. Hayami is the easily the most prominent and important character in the OVA, and develops from a stone-cold “I don’t really give a damn” type into someone who reacts quickly in tight situations but also does a lot of deep pondering on the current global state of affairs. In this sense, he carries the series very well and viewers can sympathize with him in more ways than one. Kino, on the other hand, is Hayami’s whiny younger comrade who is equally annoying between the original Japanese version of the anime and the English dub. It’s puzzling as to why the crew kept her around, as (aside from her piloting skills with the smaller combat sub) the only thing she seems capable of is failing to complete her mission or yelling at Hayami for completing his in an unorthodox fashion. Dr. Zorndyke – though he doesn’t really show up in person until the final episode – plays a pivotal role as the harbinger of all the events in the series, as well as revealing a major plot twist near the show’s final moments.


The English voice actors do a really impressive job and are arguably as good as their Japanese counterparts. Zorndyke and Hayami in particular are carried across wonderfully, and their voice actors hit them spot-on. While I didn’t enjoy the character any more, Kino’s voice actress portrays her exactly as she should be – an energetic and often over-confident kid thrust into the heat of war.

The show comes across largely as a political piece disguised as a short anime. The story and action sequences are wildly entertaining and make for an interesting experience. The characters, however, are either a hit-or-miss deal, and the soundtrack doesn’t mesh well with the overall art style. Blue Submarine Number 6 is entertaining and a rather quick watch at four episodes long, but – as well thought-out as the plot is - viewers shouldn’t expect anything mind-blowing out of the experience as a whole.

My rating: 7 (out of 10)

Anime review: Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2

One year after the events of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, members of the Black Knights have either been imprisoned, disarmed, or are on the run from Britannian forces. Following the chain of events at Kamine Island, Lelouch has forgotten who he once was and is living out an average life in Area 11. Viewers are tipped off pretty early on that things are not going to stay calm for long, as Lelouch is seen travelling with a younger student named Rollo, who he calls his ‘brother’, and Lelouch even crosses paths with Kallen Kozuki on his way to play a round of chess. The building which all three have entered is then attacked by Black Knight forces who seemingly come out of nowhere, led by C.C., and attempt to bring Lelouch with them, though he doesn’t understand why. Eventually, C.C. restores Lelouch’s memories, which he then uses to clear an escape route for the Black Knights. The group reconvenes at the Chinese Confederation Consulate, where Lelouch (under the guise of Zero once again) calls forth the remaining Black Knight forces and plans out rescue operations for those imprisoned.

Suzaku, on the other hand, joined the Knights of the Round after bringing Lelouch before the Emperor of Britannia, and is now among the elite Knightmare pilots Britannia has to offer. While Suzaku’s story is fairly interesting towards the end of R2 and helps to drastically change the focus of the story, overall it’s pretty much the same as it was in Lelouch of Rebellion, save for Suzaku’s military rank. His character is still engaging enough, unlike the other Knights of the Round. Many of these knights don’t appear until very late in the show and just show up to be tough and then die. Those that do receive significant roles are fairly stereotypical and don’t change much.


With many Britannian spies watching Lelouch’s every move, the series is much more tense when covering Lelouch’s time at the Ashford Academy. The fact that Zero has so many comrades, yet Lelouch must play everything off as if he has not yet recollected his memories makes for a very interesting dynamic and the writers go the extra distance in both pushing Lelouch and Zero apart as well as bringing them closer together. Lelocuh/Zero's cunning nature leads him to manipulate many people in R2, often without the aid of his Geass and solidifies him as a truly intriguing anti-hero.

Much like Lelouch of the Rebellion, R2 incorporates some strange situational humor, the majority of which occurs at the Ashford Academy, such as when Lelouch must partake in a ‘love hunt’ game put on by Milly. These scenes are fewer and farther between than in Lelouch of the Rebellion, so it’s nice to see that the writers opted to make the story more serious this time around. That said, not a single one of the scenes really advances the plot or develops the characters in any way and the show would have greatly benefitted from these being reworked or completely removed.

R2 is much darker than its predecessor and the story does benefit a great deal from that, for the most part. The return of Jeremiah and his new Geass-canceller shakes Lelouch’s plans up quite a bit, and the hunts led by Zero to wipe out humans being trained with Geass abilities paints a much more adult narrative than in Lelouch of the Rebellion. Lelouch even enters a depressive state during R2, using his Geass on Japanese thugs to toy with them for his own amusement, and almost using Refrain, the memory-resurfacing drug briefly introduced in Lelouch of the Rebellion.


While Zero’s methods never ceased to surprise me, R2 did lose some of its luster about halfway through, when the Black Knights headed out to China and the focus shifted to Suzaku for a large portion of the story. With the other Knights of the Round being relatively flat characters that receive little development, things got to be quite stale in regards to Suzaku’s story. Thankfully, Suzaku’s story is largely overshadowed by the backstory of C.C., one of the most intriguing twists to the overarching story of the two seasons. The mystery surrounding Lady Marianne’s death comes to a close late in R2 as well, though it may not be the conclusion every viewer was hoping for. It makes sense in the context of the story, but the buildup it receives from Lelouch’s conspiracy theories and interrogations with fellow royal family members is far more interesting than the actual resolution.

The soundtrack puts heavy emphasis on percussion instruments including chimes and bells, as well as higher brass and woodwind instruments. The attempts to make R2’s soundtrack seem more epic and dramatic than that of Lelouch of the Rebellion may come off as reminiscent of old 1950s and 1960s horror films, and no piece seems to fit any given scene as well as in its predecessor. The animation has received a boost and colors are far more vibrant during occurrences at Ashford Academy, and dark and cool when dealing with the mysteries surrounding Geass and its origin. The action scenes in R2 are great improvements over those in Lelouch of the Rebellion, and a number of different fighting styles mixes things up. Some of the Knightmare frames seem a bit ridiculous at times, though only on a handful of ocassions.


The voice actors return to reprise their roles, both in the Japanese version as well as the English dub. Jun Fukuyama (in the Japanese version) and Johnny Yong Bosch (in the English dub) both one-up their performances from the first season, bringing forth spectacular (and sometimes spine-tinglingly believable) portrayals of Lelouch. However, in both versions, the newcomers to the cast seem to either fit their respective character very well, delivering believable lines, or they miss the mark completely and come across as particularly uninspired.

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 is a bit more fast-paced than its predecessor, and it feels like many of the inner-weaving stories of R2 could have been introduced in the first season. The returning characters are just as enjoyable as before or in some cases, even more intriguing. R2 is more focused on C.C., Geass, and Zero, as opposed to the focus Lelouch of the Rebellion put on Britannia and the Black Knights. The introduction of both the Knights of the Round and the events taking place in the Chinese Confederation seem a bit forced and these aren’t nearly as engaging as many of the other stories explored in the combined seasons of Code Geass. The darker themes within R2 fuel both Zero and the Britannian royal family in going to drastic measures to achieve their own ends. Every question asked will receive an answer, but viewers will probably find some to be more satisfying than others.

My rating: 8.5 (out of 10)

Anime review: Axis Powers: Hetalia (season one)

One of the most witty and politically incorrect anime in recent years, Axis Powers Hetalia is for viewers who have done their history homework and understand the inner-working politics that occurred during World War II. It should be noted that this is certainly not a series for viewers who do not appreciate media poking fun at war. The series begins at an unspecified time, though obviously modern day, as all the countries from both the Axis and Allies, as well as a handful of others have joined in a boardroom meeting on the topic of global warming. After some arguing, Italy interrupts with his first very out-of-place “PASTA!!!” yell, and the series backtracks to explain the events leading up to and of WWII itself.

Each character in the series represents a single country (or in some cases, distinct separate regions of a country). The characters are meant to embody the stereotypes thrown upon each region’s people during the day. America nominates himself as leader of the Allies and chows down on hamburgers as he goes, the former of which frustrates England, as he believes his experience in military ordeals would benefit the Allied forces greatly. China more or less does as told, while Russia agrees with all of the Allies decisions, often muttering to himself about his plans following the war. As for France, he doesn’t seem to enjoy the competing egos of England and America, though the focus of any conversation he gets involved in turns to how everyone else should look to France for inspiration on their lifestyles. France also makes the situation awkward with perverted conversation from time to time, though what exactly he is saying is left largely up to the viewers’ imagination.


The Axis powers are given greater focus than the Allies, both due to the fact that they are introduced and form a pact earlier on in the series, as well as the fact that Italy is essentially the lead character of the series. For a lead character, Italy follows an unusual formula, as he is neither particularly skilled in combat nor motivated to defend himself. Time and time again, Italy talks about his love for pasta and – when faced with conflict – waves the white flag of surrender with great passion.

Germany is the brains of the operation for the Axis powers and seems to be the only character in the show both capable of succeeding in military operations and maintaining a serious attitude. Germany usually finds himself (begrudgingly) coming to Italy’s rescue, though as he states late in the series, Italy is the closest thing Germany has to a friend. Japan is easily the most difficult to read character in the show, his facial expressions rarely changing. His military strength is shown to be admirable, though it also seems he doesn’t quite understand the lifestyles and traditions of the European nations. Both Germany and Japan find themselves in many awkward or unfortunate situations, usually the result of Italy’s encounters with the Allies.


The series is split into two major stories – the WWII campaign, as previously mentioned, and the reformation of the Roman Empire’s remnants into modern-day Italy. During this prequel story (known as Chibitalia), young Italy spends his days cleaning the house of Holy Rome, which is occupied by the other divisions of Rome, as well as Austria and Hungary. It explains the underlying politics that led to modern-day Italy, not without contest from various political movements wishing to achieve the former glory of the Roman Empire. Chibitalia wraps up a short while before the conclusion of the first season, and in exchange viewers are given a brief look into America’s past as he attempts to clean out his storage room. This backstory focuses on America’s upbringing by England and the Revolutionary War, but is far more brief than the events of Chibitalia and isn’t nearly as engaging due to the choppy, fast-paced storytelling. America’s Storage Room Cleaning is a prime example of where the series does have some flaws, because - while there are very very few dull moments in the first season - when the show does slip up and lose its comedic touch it takes a while to get back on track.

The series received a TV-MA rating in the US, though this has been justified as a rating for the series as a whole, with many episodes being relatively clean in regards to content. The more adult elements have to do with occasional vulgar language and innuendos. The inclusion of these elements in an otherwise relatively clean series makes for a bit of an odd viewing experience, but the focus doesn’t ever detract because of them.


The animation is quite good, though as Axis Powers: Hetalia began as an internet series, it doesn’t quite stack up to the art design of other recent anime. Some may find the blurry watercolor style of the Chibitalia backstory to be annoying, as it is quite drastically different than the digital coloring featured in the bulk of the show. With each episode being roughly five minutes in length, however, the artists could have done much worse with the series. The soundtrack is few and far between, in large part due to constraints in the show’s time length. When the soundtrack is accompanying a scene, it’s usually in the form of a short jingle or event-specific tune, much like in some video games. The Japanese voice actors do a splendid job in keeping the humor of the series cruising along and it their characters’ respective accents and attitudes pretty spot-on. Without a strong cast, Axis Powers: Hetalia would have crashed and burned pretty fast, and it’s comforting to see that plenty of extra effort was put into the voice acting. It will be interesting to see how the English dub voice actors handle the show come September 2010.

The season finale isn’t anything particularly spectacular, but it is fitting, considering the time length of any given episode of Axis Powers: Hetalia. There is plenty of humor throughout the show and a fair share of running gags. Guest characters such as Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Austria, and even the Roman Empire (or as Italy knows him, ‘Grandpa Rome’) show up from time to time to keep the story interesting and advance the events surrounding WWII. While some viewers might get sick of Italy constantly surrendering, perhaps they will find some compensation during the latter half of the season when the focus shifts more heavily to the Allied forces. All in all, Axis Powers: Hetalia is a hilarious romp through history so long as viewers understand the context of the series’ events.

My rating: 9.25 (out of 10)